Tag Archives: Second Life

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The school year is rushing to an end. Amazingly, we’re soon closing off the first decade of the new century that was going to be our hallmark of innovation and change. We promised ourselves we would put industrial models of schooling behind us.

For some this leap into new modes of learning is more than they can take on. For others it’s the natural extension of what learning has to be for our connected, mobile-enhanced learners.

I hope the next decade brings magical things for us all.

One thing we know is that we need to bring ‘out of school’ gaming and virtual worlds activities into the daily learning cyles of our students. We need to bring back the connections between school and home, and be prepared to provide environments that are authentic to the technology use of our students.

Second Life Viewer 2, now in beta, is the next generation of Second Life viewers that makes it easy to explore and socialize in Second Life with a familiar, browser-like experience, enhanced search, and fully integrated web-based media capabilities. Test Drive Second Life Viewer 2, Now in Beta by downloading here.

Thanks to Sheila Webber for providing a constant flow of information related to libraries. Her Information Literacy Weblog provides real up-to-date gems year after year – she saves me time I must say!

I have also always enjoyed Sheila’s photography that provides a nice contrast to the steady information flow.

Two recent posts to worth picking up on:

2D Libraries

The Scottish Library and Information Council (SLIC) launched two new guidance toolkits at the annual SLIC Further Education Conference, on 3 December. One of them was A Guide to Using Web 2.0 in Libraries. Add this to your report collection/bibliography!

A quick tour of some of the places on Regina Public Schools’ Wascana Island on the Teen Second Life grid. It shows some of the places for gatherings and meetings as well as showcasing two “in-world” projects that are currently (2008-2009) on display.

What happens when I get behind in my RSS reading? Oh My!! A tweet from Scott Merrick alerted me to the good news!

Welcome Judy O’Connell’s “Hey Jude!” blog to the RSS feed in the Blogger’s Hut at ISTE Island in Second Life, chosen by vote on a polling object and now featured in the Hut with its topic headers happily inviting the browser to open up and check out the incisive and informative blog posts Judy shares.

So now, take Scott’s advice: get thee on over there (SLurl) to the Blogger’s Hut and try your hand at voting for one of March’s nominees. They’re all international, “honoring the International in ISTE” and they all have an education-in-virtual-worlds focus.

Who knows? You may find a new favorite for your very own RSS aggregator!

“Whether it is Second Life or another virtual world, this foundational movement is not going away. The question to be addressed in the coming months and years is how higher education and, subsequently, individual institutions will determine the best way to continue to move forward with virtual worlds”